Did you know that Diana, the Goddess of Hunting, was the protector of Ortigia in Greek times? At the centre of Diana’s Fountain in Syracuse, by Giulio Moschetti (1847-1909), the goddess of hunting stands in her calm Olympic pride.
At her feet, Alfeo witnesses the transformation of his beloved nymph Arethusa into a spring: exhausted by her lover’s erotic pursuit, the young girl asked Diana for help, who carried out the metamorphosis, making her first sink into the earth and then resurface on the island of Ortigia, the oldest part of the Sicilian city. Thus giving life to the source that gave Arethusa its name.
